A Flicker in Time
by gwenivere.loves.skittles
Summary: Rose and John Smith (10th Doc Metacrisis) find themselves transported to Prime Earth, separated. Luckily, they get a little help from some friends. Ten/Rose reunion, set after Journey's End for 10, 10.5 & Rose and Pond Life for Amy/Rory/11. I dont own any original DW characters. 9/15/14- Rewrote a lot of this so please give it another read and review!
1. Chapter One

Warm yellow sunlight of morning bled through the white curtains and spread through the room. A light grey comforter partially concealed a blonde mop of hair, the woman beneath's face expressionless, her breaths slow and rhythmic with deep sleep. A hand slid from behind her, over her shoulder, down her arm and hand, pushing the nest of blankets out of the way and resting gently on her swollen belly. She covered his hand with her own and whispered, "Sleep well?" 

He propped himself up on one elbow, resting his head upon the heel of his hand, "Yes. I dreamt of you, like I always do," he breathed into her ear.

She smiled, and with her arm pushed her hair back out of her face. She stretched, yawning, "I really just want to go back to sleep. So many good dreams, so little time." She chuckled to herself, "But then again, living with you is an adventure all its own!" 

"Oh, you know how I love an adventure," he gave her the biggest grin he could muster, his eyes lighting up at the mere mention of going on an adventure with this woman, his perfect flower.

"Quite right," said she, "Whole new world out there, and lives to consider beyond our own." 

He helped her roll onto her back, and leaned over. His kisses covered her mouth and then he gently kissed her exposed belly, and rested his head upon it, listening to the little heartbeats within. "They're ready. It'll be any day now." 

"A bit impatient?" 

His voice softened, "It's been a long time since I was a father. Whole different set if circumstances now and it's exciting and downright scary. I just hope I'm good to them." 

She rested her hand upon his face and lifted it to meet her own. Gazing into his eyes, it was like seeing the other's eyes- the wisdom, the years, the ages long past- but this was a different man, who was cast aside from the fast paced life from before and dropped onto a beach in Norway, with the woman he loved. He knew his existence was unnatural, an accident borne from war, but then this was his chance, once in the whole of the universe, to be human, ordinary. She understood what that meant for him, and seeing his eyes finally at peace after two years and truly happy, simply put, a miracle. She littered his face with kisses, coming to rest with her lips pressed against his forehead, "I love you. Help me out of bed?" 

"Ah, yes, off to work then Missus Smith?" 

"And you as well Mister Smith. In fact," Rose, with assistance from her husband, sort of scooted to the end of the bed to dress, "suppose you could drop me at the shop on your way? I've the new product line coming in and I should be ready when you're done." 

John plucked his suit and tie from the top of the vanity, "I can drop my flower at her shop and then off to Torchwood. Give us a ring if our little rascals give you any trouble." He nodded in the direction of Rose's very large middle. 

John strode into the bath, shutting the door behind him. He stood facing the mirror, ran the fingers of his right hand through his sandy brown hair, and let his hand fall to his face, inspecting the scruff that had grown around his chin and along his jaw line. John cleaned the lines, giving himself more of a clean beard. He noted how his human body was not all that different from his Time Lord one, albeit this body definitely required more maintenance, and sleep, which he had been lacking of late. He had grown more muscular over the years and gained a bit more weight, mostly due to his position at Torchwood and Rose's retirement to open her own clothing shop. 

Rose had decided upon returning to that universe that being able to live a truly human life with this man, who was everything her Doctor was and everything he could never be, meant that she no longer needed to chase aliens, fight battles and protect the Earth. She had found what she built the dimension cannon to find and came back with much more than she ever expected. 

Rose stood in the bedroom in her pyjamas, looking into the closet through its reflection in her vanity. The blue suit was just visible, reminding her of Bad Wolf Bay, something that came to mind infrequently anymore but when it did, she was overwhelmed with those old emotions, flashbacks. 

John entered drying his hair with a towel, glanced at Rose and followed her gaze. He laid eyes on that which caught her attention, his suit. The blue suit he was wearing while fighting the daleks, on the day he was brought to this universe still hung in the closet, covered in dust. John stood behind Rose and hugged her around the shoulders. "Penny for your thoughts?" 

She shook off the memories and wiped the wet streams from her skin, "It comes back to me," she paused, putting together her thoughts into words, "and I used to feel like trying to find you was selfish. I missed you so much and when you became human and he left you here with me, I had to make myself remember, this is a different you, you two were the same man until the metacrisis and from that point on you were the man who could let himself love me back. It's all I wanted."


	2. Chapter Two

Ding!

The shop door bell rang as Rose entered, alerting the girl behind the counter. She waved to Rose, eliciting one in return. Rose unlocked her office and entered, laying her keys upon her desk and she sat down in her chair, relieved to take a load off. 

As the day progressed, Rose kept feeling like there were eyes watching her everywhere she went. She shrugged off the sensation, thinking that there was no way she could find herself in trouble in her little shop. Trouble hadn't found her in years. After awhile, the sensation went away, and noticing it was almost time to leave, she resumed the final paperwork of the day. Rose wrote an email to her newest distributor, and as she was just finishing up, she felt a tug. Suddenly she couldn't breathe and desperately looked around. Rose was falling through pitch darkness. 

The alarm on John's watch buzzed, signaling the end of his work day. He lifted the mask on his welding hood, set the torch down, pulled one glove off and disabled the alarm. He put out a small bead of molten metal attached to his worn out Sex Pistols t-shirt, and tucked the torch between his denim-clad knees while he removed his hood and other glove. 

"John! How's the ship coming?" called Rose's father Pete from the walkway above.

John admired his handiwork on Torchwood's newest alien tech- a ship made from a new metal alloy never seen on earth but familiar to John from his time as The Doctor. As Torchwood's alien technology expert, John's position required he identify and repair electronics found that Torchwood otherwise couldn't. Currently he was improving a ship that was found 4 miles off the coast of Spain. 

"Well, the hull is solid, and I made some minor improvements to the navigation and defense systems. I'll be in tomorrow to adjust the console and steering for a human pilot. I'm off to the showers to change and pick Rose up from the shop." 

Pete nodded, "Right. Tomorrow then, Son." 

John walked into the locker room, opened his cubby and started to remove the steel-toed work boots he wore any time he was in the area of his department lovingly referred to as "The Garage". He'd only gotten as far as untying them, when he heard the strangest noise. 

"Click...click...click..." soft tapping sounded as if it were behind him. He turned, looked around, and found nothing. John resumed untying his boot and the sudden sensation that there were eyes watching came over him. He reached across into his cubby and removed the sonic from his suit jacket but was almost paralyzed by the sudden feeling of being pulled and he was falling back and back through black dense fog. John hit a solid surface with a loud THUD and everything faded out. 

Rose awoke to a familiar whooshing sound, almost like an engine, but she couldn't quite place it. She opened her eyes slowly, the room around her fuzzy. She could make out the faces of a man with dark hair and kind eyes and fire-haired woman hovering above her own. She tried to sit and each of the two took an arm and assisted her to the side of the cot. 

"Take it easy," whispered the woman's voice, soft and very Scottish, "you'll be disoriented for a bit. I'm Amy, and this is Rory. Do you know where you are?" 

Rose sighed. "I suspect I'm in the infirmary in the TARDIS from the sound of those engines." 

"What I want to know is how you got aboard the TARDIS, Rose?" expressed the voice from the doorway, a slight hint of suspicion and confusion lingering there. A tall, lanky chap with shaggy brown hair wearing a bowtie and a tweed coat leaned against the doorframe. Rose squinted her eyes and tilted her head, looking him over, trying to remember how she knew him. They locked eyes, and she recognized him. 

"Doctor?!" 

"Yes, I've regenerated. But back to my question for you, how did you get here?" 

Rose shook her head. "Uhm, I don't really know. I was working in my shop..." 

"Oh, you're back in a shop!" 

"I own a shop... and I was working on my computer, finishing for the day, the next thing I know I'm falling through a black void! I woke up here." Rose took a few deep breaths, trying to keep her fear from overcoming her. Her eyes welled with tears. "I'm sorry... I just don't understand how I got here. I thought it was impossible." 

The Doctor rushed over to the cot, leaned on his hands, placing himself directly in front of Rose's face. "I'll find an answer to this and get you home... but how? And where is...?" 

Rose looked up into his eyes. Worry spread across her face. "Oh, God. John! He'll be sick! I have to tell him where I am!" The Doctor gave her a curious look. Rose explained, "He goes by John Smith. The old alias." 

The Doctor nodded, standing. "Do you have a communication device, a phone?" 

"Yes," she replied, handing the phone from her pocket over to The Doctor. "Can you make it call between dimensions?" 

The Doctor scanned the phone with his sonic. "I could make it cook you eggs if I wanted. What's an inter-dimensional phone call between old friends?" he said, looking to her, beaming. 

"Speaking of, Doctor, hello, how do you know each other?" Amy asked, stepping into The Doctor's line of sight. 

"Right. Amy, Rory, this is Rose Tyler." 

"Smith." Rose corrected.

"Oh, Smith! Congratulations!" said The Doctor cheerfully as he gave Rose a hug. 

"Doctor..." Amy tapped his shoulder. 

"Yes, sorry, Rose is someone I knew in another time. Big war with the Daleks trying to take over the Earth and 26 other planets, wipe out all the species in the universe, Rose came back to this universe from the parallel I left her in to seal a tear in space/time in order to warn me, the TARDIS filled the mind of a woman who travelled with me at that time, which rebounded to my severed hand and created a human version of myself so when it was done I popped into her universe, dropped them there and sealed the void."

Amy nodded, "Right, so another version of you left her in a parallel universe with a copy of yourself?" She thought it over and gave Rory an incredulous look, before transferring that look to the Doctor. "Is she your ex?"

The Doctor knew he was caught. He took Amy and Rory out of the infirmary and in a low whisper stated matter-of-factly, "Not officially. She was my companion, like you Ponds. She found me at a dark point in my life and helped me get past it. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be the man I am today." He glanced back into the room for a moment then turned back to Rory and Amy, "Please, I'm begging you, don't bring it up. "

Amy raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. Rory shook his head, "Seriously? You're telling Amy not to poke her nose in where it doesn't belong? That's like trying to tell you that some day you're going to get old and wish you'd slowed down a bit."

With a sly grin, the Doctor replied, "Never gonna happen, Roman!"


	3. Chapter Three

The Doctor continued to sonic the phone, and after he finished, handed it back to Rose. "Phone him."

She rang John's number but the person who answered wasn't John. "Rose? Where are you? Its Dad. Are you alright?"

"Yeah Dad, I'm alright. I got sucked into The Doctor's universe. I don't know how. But he found me, he and his travelling companions. They are taking good care of me. Where's John? Is he there?"

There was a long pause on the line. "Rose, he disappeared." Rose choked on her breath. "We found his cubby open, his suit and all of his belongings still inside...except his sonic." Pete's voice was shaky. "He was still in his clothes from the garage."

"Dad, call me if you find anything." Rose demanded and abruptly hung up. She looked at The Doctor, Amy, and Rory. "He's missing. Still in his clothes from working in the garage."

"Amy, Rory with me," The Doctor commanded as he rushed out of the infirmary. He began flipping switches and dials on the TARDIS console. "We need to pinpoint the exact signal that came through that dropped Rose here. We can use that signal to find her husband and if I'm good, the TARDIS can configure the same signal to send them home without ripping another hole in the universe." He flipped one last switch and faced Amy and Rory. "And did I mention, Ponds, I'm very good."

The console began beeping and a map popped up on screen. "A-ha! Dropped in the early 21st Century in America... come on girl, show me where..." The Doctor pressed two more buttons and flipped another switch. "Rural area, not a large population, only about ten-thousand humans. There's something else here, the TARDIS can't quite make out." The TARDIS groaned. "She's having trouble staying locked on. I think we're going to need help. Let's hope she can handle the paradoxes!"

Rory and Amy locked eyes before they were both thrown to opposite ends of the console room. Rory scrambled up off the floor and rushed to Amy's side. He called out to the Doctor over the ear-splitting noise coming out of the TARDIS engines. When the Doctor didn't respond at first, and after he'd helped Amy get into a jump seat, Rory grasped the Doctor's arm and yelled, "What are you doing?"

The TARDIS engines wheezed and gurgled, then a jolt. It shuddered, and shut down. Silence enveloped the room.

"Oi! This isnt my TARDIS!"

Amy and Rory leaned left to look around to the other side. A man with mad looking hair and dressed as if he were trying to bring back the zoot suit era of the 1930s, without the hat and cane, stood leaned against the console glowering at them. He pulled a pair of small rectangular glasses from the pocket on the inside of his jacket and placed them on his nose. The man studied the console room as he gazed about.

"Who are you?" asked Rory.

"I'm The Doctor! Who are you?"

* * *

"As I've explained, this is a delicate situation."

Ten scoffed. "Delicate? I'd say dangerous more like. Somehow they were both transported here without ripping a hole in the void, and on top of that you've managed to join our TARDISes in order to provide a more powerful track on the signal that brought them here in the first place and what are you planning after that? Find what sent them here in the first place and send them home?"

Eleven looked up from the screen. "Exactly. What brought two people out of a dimension neither previously existed in nor would deposit them in this universe and why?"

Ten exclaimed, "Oh!" and ran from the console room straight into the infirmary and burst through the door, "Did you plant your coral yet?"

Rose looked toward the door. "Wha-?"

"In Bad Wolf Bay, I gave you and...Him...a cutting from my TARDIS. Did you plant it?" Ten asked.

Rose studied his face, in a bit of shock, her mouth hanging open and eyes tearing. "But how are you...? I thought you couldn't...?"

Ten walked over to the cot Rose sat on and knelt in front of her. He took her hands. "This is urgent. Rose, did he plant the coral?"

Rose came out of her trance, and nodded, "Yeah...Yeah we did, a year ago. It grows a lot faster than John expected. But it's a long way from ready. Why?"

"The TARDIS." said Ten. "Any species in the universe would sacrifice for their hands on a TARDIS. We'll figure out who it was, and stop them. And get you home safely."

Rory stepped forward, "Actually, Doctor…Doctors," he took the stethoscope from out of a drawer, "if we're trying to brainstorm ideas on why some alien may want to kidnap a human woman out of an alternate dimension and drop her into this dimension, knowing there was a possibility you, one or the other, would find her, it may be time to consider this as a possibility." Rory handed the Tenth Doctor the stethoscope. Ten put in the earpieces and placed the diaphragm against Rose's belly. He listened for a few seconds, and then moved the diaphragm to another spot. Without a word, he handed the stethoscope to the Eleventh Doctor, who took it and listened. Eleven passed the stethoscope back to Rory and sighed. Glancing at his younger counterpart, Eleven then turned back to Rose. "Did you know?"

"Yes," Rose declared, "I knew right away. They told me."

Ten asked, "Does anyone else know?"

Rose stood and waddled over to the man with her husband's face. She peered straight into his eyes and said, "John knew. No one else did. I'm not stupid, Doctor. This is a secret I would protect with my life. I know what it means."

"And your me...John is it? Bowtie found him in America in 2011."

Eleven scoffed, "Bowtie?"

Ten rolled his eyes, pointing his finger first at his counterpart and then back at himself, "This isn't something that happens every day. Need a way to distinguish between us, don't we?"

"Alright then, Pretty Boy, it's your plan."

Eleven motioned to Amy and Rory for the three of them to leave, and he followed them out of the infirmary, closing the door on his way out. Ten walked back over to Rose, and put his hands on her upper arms, gently rubbing them with his thumbs. They stood in silence for several minutes before Ten looked down at his feet and whispered, "I missed you."  
Rose leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "I missed you too."

Ten helped her to the door, suggesting she get some rest. He took Rose by the arm, leading her to her old rooms. As they meandered down the passages The Doctor asked Rose about her life, and she described jobs and her house and made jokes about mortgages and the grocery, but in realizing his sudden silence, she noticed that there was still a lot of hurt in The Doctor's hearts. Although he wore a friendly smile, his eyes told another story.

She kissed his cheek upon arrival at her door, wished him a good night, and entered. It was exactly as she left it, except, someone had obviously cleaned. The bath still held her supplies, but these were brand new packages of each. The cupboard held properly fitting clothes, and her old clothes were held at a new section at the back. Someone had gone shopping. "Doctor? What's all this?"

"Amy and Rory did a little shopping. Cleaned for you. Got your old rooms... hospitable." He smiled slightly. "Amy guessed your size. I do love what she chose, very beautiful."

Rose blushed, and pulled him in for a tight hug. It was a feeling they both deeply missed. Into the lapels of his jacket, Rose whispered, "Thank you Doctor. For everything."

The Doctor released her and smiled gently, then exited the room and closed the door behind him. For the first time since this rather unexpected adventure began, Rose sat upon the bed and sobbed into a pillow, pouring all of her fear, anger, and wretched sadness into those tears.

Outside her room, in the corridor, Ten sat upon the floor leaned against the wall with his knees against his chest and his arms resting over them. He fidgeted absentmindedly with the screwdriver, listening to Rose cry.


	4. Chapter Four

Ten wandered through the corridors completely enveloped in his thoughts until he found himself back in the console room. Beeping erupted from the console and the view screen was flashing a red dot on a map of America. The trace on his duplicate was complete.

"I've set the navigation to his location now. The TARDIS is on its way. All right, mate?" said Eleven from his place in the jump chair.

Ten turned to Eleven, his face red and fuming. "Do I look right to you?" he yelled, "Why did you bring me here? It couldn't have been only because you needed help!"

"Because it happened to me. This is a fixed point in our timeline and you're supposed to be here for this. I knew the moment she just showed up, passed out on the floor. Do you really think I wanted to live through it again? To see Rose, our Rose, carrying HIS children, Time Lord twins!" Eleven trailed off.

Ten paced back and forth, rubbing his eyes, sucking his heartbreak back in and burying it deep. "Does she die? Do they survive?" he whispered.

"Spoilers."

He lunged into Eleven's face and shouted, "Don't tell me that please, just tell me!"

Eleven jumped to his feet. "You know I can't do that. This moment, this and all that come after, it happened to me, and it's happening to you, right now. Are you going to brood about what you have lost," Eleven flipped about the TARDIS console maneuvering switches and dials, the engines shut off and the doors opened, "or are you going to do something to make certain you don't lose them forever?"

* * *

The world was fuzzy and awfully bright, white everywhere. Distant sounds of carts and doors and voices seemed to grow painfully louder. John's head pounded. He tried to sit, but he discovered he was connected to so many tubes and wires that he couldn't move. Machines beeped and whirred. John found the call button and pressed it. Seconds later a heavyset nurse strolled in, clad in purple scrubs, brown hair pulled into a bun, wearing a badge with the name "Judy" written across in blue letters. "Good morning sunshine! How are you feeling?"

John groaned and touched his head, right at the back, feeling the baseball-sized lump left there. "My head... where am I?"

"You're in Saint Marie's Community Hospital, and you have been in a coma for two days. Do you know what city you're in?"

John shook his head no.

"Are you travelling through?" she asked.

John thought for a moment. He knew his name, but he couldn't remember anything from before. "I don't remember."

Another nurse rushed in calling the first to come out of the little room. She followed and closed the door behind. John made out muffled bits of the conversation, and the first nurse came back through, announcing, "Your brother has come looking for you. He has your belongings and will be in shortly, after he speaks with the doctor."

John nodded, and rested his head against the pillow. He lingered in that point between sleep and consciousness for several minutes before the door opened again. He opened his eyes and let his gaze follow the voices entering the room. He immediately recognized the man in the brown coat, carrying a hospital issued sack. The doctor nodded at him and stepped out of the room. The man they called his brother sat in a chair next to the cot and helped John maneuver the bed controls so he could sit up. "John, Rose is here too."

"Who's Rose? What's your name? I know your face but I can't remember your name. You're my brother?" said a very confused John.

Ten sighed. "Your doctor says you lost some memory and it will come back over time. But we don't have time to wait. Your son and daughter are about to be born into this world and your wife may not survive it. I need to help get your memory back and in order to do that, you need to close your eyes and trust me."

John gave him a sideways glance and closed his eyes. He felt a push as if someone were just letting him know they were there. He relaxed and let this man with his face enter his mind. Suddenly a flood of images, names, and emotions flowed- he was stealing a time machine but he looked like an old man, running through a corridor wearing a ridiculous scarf, he was asking a strange woman to change his face so that he could become a soldier, he was fighting in a war, he was meeting a beautiful blonde girl and asking her to run. She was surrounded by glowing material and he kissed her to take that stuff out of her mind and he died but he didn't die, his face changed. He was fighting a creature and his hand was cut off. He was leaving her on a beach, his hearts were breaking, and suddenly she was right in front of him again. He saw another different glowing woman and then a man was growing out of the hand.

Suddenly it was like a slap across the face. John's own memory took over and he began watching the blue box disappear; relived glorious arguments; saw their home; and Rose holding a little stick jumping up and down and hugging him, himself broke down on the floor in the happiest tears. Heard her laughter and saw her smile, felt overwhelming fear at Rose's news that his children were not human at least entirely, listening to their baby voices through Rose's belly and singing in Gallifreyan to them while she slept.

He remembered.


	5. Chapter Five

The sun descended into a sea of red and orange clouds hovering over the top of a mountain range just west of the town, and as there were no busses or cabs to drop them closer to the TARDIS, Ten and John had to resort to hoofing it. Thankfully it wasn't a long walk, as this town was quite small and as each version of the same man needed to digest the memories , along with the emotions, shared during their psychic link.

Finally, John broke the silence. He had been following along just slightly behind Ten, mulling over Ten's logic behind why John and Rose were pulled out of their universe, when he said, "What if the TARDIS isn't the only reason? It makes sense, if the species we've made contact with or found evidence of knew that there was such a thing as a TARDIS, or maybe if I registered on any scanner in existence as anything other than human. The only way someone would be able to tell that I'm not entirely human would be with a hyper-advanced scan of my DNA. I know nothing like that exists in the other world, and as far as I know, this Earth hasn't even come close to that technology, and I've never left the planet. My DNA looks human enough that I pass for it. But if someone just wanted the TARDIS I'm growing back home why didn't I get sent away and Rose left behind? She wouldn't know where I keep it, or how to grow it." There was a lingering silence.

"Because whoever it is isn't after you, they're after your kids," realized Ten, stopping to look at his duplicate, horror growing in his eyes, "Initially I thought someone would come after you for the TARDIS but you haven't been growing it long enough and nobody would even know it exists in your universe, but the twins... it would be so easy to see that they aren't completely human, a simple ultrasound could easily reveal that. Who knew? Who knew what you are? Who knew what they are?"

Before John could answer, Ten's pocket walkie started screeching and hissing static.

"Doctor? This is Rory. Do you have John?" came the voice between hisses of static.

"Yep," replied Ten, popping the P sound, "he's with me now and on the way."

"Hang on a minute." Rory said over the comm. The next several seconds felt like ages. "Doctor, you need to hurry. We have a problem."

John's heart sank into his stomach. He eavesdropped, a new fear growing in his mind.

"Now don't panic," came Rory's voice from the other end of the walkie's scratchy speaker, "but her water broke, and I've prepped her for delivery, but one of the babies is breach and the Doctor, I mean our Doctor, has been trying to coax the little guy into moving into the correct position. He's being a stubborn little git. I could really use some help."

John took off running, his mind focusing on one thing-to get to his wife.

"Oi!" yelled Ten, catching up, "You don't know where you're going!"

"Lead on then!" called John.

They dashed down the dirt path, John following the Doctor almost to heels, ignoring that his lungs felt like they would explode and his singular heart wanted to pounce right out of his chest. All he cared about was returning to his family.

The bushes near the path moved violently as two very large, plump men stepped onto the path. Both were armed with hunting rifles, and they had a eerily familiar feel about them.

One farted. Both of them giggled.

Ten and John shot each other dreadful looks. Slitheen.

* * *

"Amy! I need more water and fresh towels!" called Rory from the infirmary over Rose's screams of pain.

"I'm already working on it, Stupid!"

Amy stumbled down the corridor, a heaping pile of towels and water bottles filling her arms, and she nearly tumbled over Eleven, who was pacing in front of the closed infirmary door, muttering to himself. Her load spilled out of her arms, and she let out a frustrated sigh, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, and stooped to pick up the mess. Eleven dropped to one knee to help her.

"Why don't you go wait in the console room for John and the other...you?"

Eleven met Amy's gaze with sad eyes. "This is where I'm supposed to be."

Amy's stomach tied in knots. "Doctor, she'll live through this, won't she?"

"I don't remember, Amy."

* * *

"Oh, lookie here. The Doctor and his pet. How didja make it look just like you? That's a new level of sick, Doctor!" The first Slitheen, disguised as a mostly toothless man wearing red plaid and coveralls, sneered.

The second Slitheen, wearing a pin tie and a cheap, misfitting suit finished, "But no matter. We just want the woman. Don't get in the way."

Ten stepped forward and leered at them, removing the sonic from his overcoat pocket. "Isn't this sort of beneath you? Can't be much power as Mayor of Hillbillyville?" he taunted between gritted teeth.

Toothless laughed, "We're black sheep of the family. Not for long. Little Time Lords are worth a lot of money when sold for parts!"

"Over my dead body!" shouted John as he threw his body into Toothless, knocking the Slitheen down and he began beating the Slitheen's disguised face with his bare fists.

"Happy to oblige." said Mayor with a sneer, just before he fired the rifle in John's direction. John slumped over and slid off the now unconscious Toothless.

"No!" screamed Ten. He looked at John's body lying in a heap, and a feeling of resolve filled him. His face took on the expression that made armies turn and run- cold cruelty. "You've no idea how big of a mistake you just made..."

"You can't hurt me!" scoffed the Mayor.

"I'M NOT DONE SPEAKING!" commanded Ten. "You've this one chance, leave this planet. Hand over the device. Never return. Don't comply? I turn you over to the Shadow Proclamation. That's a death sentence."

Mayor glowered at him, "No."

Quickly Ten used his sonic to disable the weapon. He grabbed the muzzle of the rifle and hit Mayor over the head, knocking him out.

"No second chances."

Ten dashed over to where John's body lay crumpled in the dirt. He rolled John over, checked for a pulse and lifted his shirt, revealing a mangled golf ball sized exit wound on the right side of his abdomen. Ten scanned the wound with his sonic screwdriver. Hopefully it was enough to ensure that John would survive. Ten helped him to his feet.

They hobbled to the TARDIS, which was just around the next bend. Pushing through the door, Rose's cries of pain filled their ears, and Ten hurried them out of the control room and into the corridor. Ten burst through the infirmary door hauling his duplicate from underneath the arm and entered a room to the left, the light automatically turning on and a cot emerged from the wall. John groaned as Ten helped him lie down. Eleven rushed in.

"What happened?" asked Eleven.

Ten looked at him in the eyes coldly and said, "Is the TARDIS set to prevent transmat in or out?"

"Yes."

"It was Slitheen, but you already knew that. They are after the twins, but you knew that too, didn't you?"

Rory walked in, drying his hands on a towel. He took a deep breath as he surveyed the damage. "Let me stitch him up, the sonic healed internal damage but I need to close the wound. Doctor, " Rory looked at Eleven," help me roll him onto his side and keep him still. Doctor," Rory turned to Ten, "she needs a familiar face. And good news. Just help Amy keep her company."

Ten stepped out of the room and approached the other room in the infirmary, which the TARDIS had converted into a delivery room. He took a deep breath, and stepped through the door. Rose's head was leaned back against a pillow that was propped beneath her head, even though she was already reclined into the delivery position, covered by a blue blanket for her own privacy. She seemed to be sleeping.

Amy looked at him as he came through the door and closed it quietly behind. She stood and handed Ten a stopwatch, stretched and said, "She's resting now, contractions are eight and a half minutes apart or so. I think she needs you right now, but she's exhausted so she's sleeping between them. Doctor, my Doctor, said that the little boy is being stubborn and he won't turn around. If you can help her..." Amy trailed off as she looked over at the sleeping figure. She turned back to Ten, "There is water and cloths if you'll keep her face cool. I'm stepping out for a few minutes."

She left, and Ten was alone with Rose. He sat on the stool next to her cot and for a moment, was almost completely at a loss. His hands trembled, his hearts broke, and his mind wouldn't stop filing through all the information he knew about Gallifreyan childbirth prior to the use of looms, and what the process meant for Rose and the babies she carried. It would have been difficult anyway, but the breach, well it just made things all that more difficult. He felt a push in the back of his mind, and let the little one in.

"Help!" a small voice whispered into Ten's mind.

"You need to turn little one!" Ten whispered back.

"Can't move!"

"Show me where you are."

Ten saw in his mind's eye the baby's position and he stood, placing his hands above and below him. He massaged the lower abdomen and could see the baby shift.

"Thank you," the little one whispered.

Ten sighed, looking at the stop watch. Three minutes to go. Rose started to groan and turned toward The Doctor. "Hello Doctor." she breathed.

"Hello, Pink and Yellow Girl." he replied, looking at the floor, fighting back tears.

"Please look at me." Rose's fingers touched his hand.

She was so weak she couldn't even move her arms to properly reach for his hand, so he took hers. Ten looked into her eyes, those big beautiful eyes that melted his hearts. "Oh look at that, my eyes are leaking..." he chuckled with a sheepish grin as he wiped his face. Rose gave him a weak smile.

"You and your cheek..." her voice trailed off. Her eyes widened and she sucked in a sharp breath. "Oh! Ow!" Rose's grip suddenly vice like clenched the Doctor's hand painfully.

"Rory!" The Doctor called.

Rose looked up, fear painted across her face. "Please don't leave me," she begged.

He looked down into her eyes, and promised, "Never again."


	6. Chapter Six

The two Doctors holed up in the console room, preoccupying themselves with repairs to the TARDIS despite Ten's overwhelming urge to be in the room with Rose in lieu of her husband, who was still unconscious in the room next to hers. "You'd think her cries would wake him...maybe having only one heart not only made him reckless and stupid but deaf as well," Ten growled under his breath as he sat on the grating cross-legged, taking readings from the new parts he and Eleven had just installed. 

Eleven popped his head up from where a panel of grate had been removed. "Oi! I'll have none of that!" He knelt back beneath the grating. "Anyway if he's so reckless and stupid he got it from you, so you really ought to stop complaining so much." 

Ten grumbled his disapproval as he reached in to adjust the solar radiation shielding power relay under the console. He crawled out from underneath and came face to face with his future counterpart. Eleven's eyes revealed a sadness he had up to this point buried deep inside, and with a pointed clearing of his throat, he said, "I'm going to tell you something someone once told me. It will hurt, but you need to hear it."

Eleven shifted to a position next to his former self, and began absentmindedly fiddling with a small metal object he pulled out of the pocket of his slacks. "I know you love her, with every beat of your hearts, and I know you never wanted to give her up, but you have to realize that there was no way she could stay with you. You can't have a family together, or marry her in the proper way. You could never give her the life she needs and you knew it when you left her on that beach. But part of giving her this life is that you have to let her go," He looked into his counterpart's eyes, "because you have to be ready for what comes next."

After a few moments of silence, the realization came. "River..."

Eleven's hearts ached at her name, his eyes welled up and he closed them and drew a long breath. "Yes."

"Why did you make the bond if you knew all along that she would die?" erupted from Ten's mouth before he knew it- the one thing that had been eating at him since The Library.

"I can't tell you about your future."

"I'll forget all about it, the time streams are too jumbled."

Eleven sighed and replied, "The whole of time was in jeopardy. She needed me to prove something. So I did it. I love her, she loved me, and we had some grand adventures together. But I know its coming, and soon." A sad smile crossed his lips. "She tries to hide that she's aging but I can feel it. Its time to give her this." He held out his hand to reveal his counterpart's screwdriver, but modified. "I made improvements to it, to give her a fighting chance."

"I watched her die!" Ten breathed, his mind reliving the last moments of River Song's life. 

He turned and glared accusingly at Eleven, whose entire countenance changed to one of pure anguish and he suddenly bellowed, "When you have known someone, from the day of their birth, but every time you meet its a different point in their life, and the whole while in the back of your mind is the memory of their death, you can pass judgment. When you love someone so much that you create a way for them to be immortal, something they had and gave away for you, then you can pass judgment. You can't begin to know what you're in for, what you'll sacrifice, what you'll lose, mate."

Ten stormed out of the console room flushed and angry, but as he strode down the corridor he regained some sorely-needed control over his emotions. For him it had only been a few months since Darlig Ulv Stranden, since wiping Donna's memories, since The Library, and he'd been merciless in his dealings with the enemies he'd faced since. He'd gotten full of himself and tried to save the people from the first Mars colony from death, and that thief on the double decker taught him that some humans are corrupt for the sake of being corrupt and just can't be better than that. He wanted to be the hero, and save everyone from themselves. But who was going to save him from that dark place again? Later, he found himself sitting in the room with his duplicate, his elbows resting on his knees, his face in his hands.

"Oi! Spaceman! Where's my wife?"

Ten lifted his face to look at his doppelganger. John immediately knew what was wrong by Ten's expression. He'd seen it before when it was his face- unexpected interruption of deep thought. John cocked his head to the side and said, "You know, I never did thank you."

"What do you-?"

John raised his hand as if asking for a moment and sat up on the cot with a slight groan and continued, "She didn't want me, at first. I know she kissed me on that beach but as soon as the TARDIS took off she ran after it. She would have followed you to the end of the universe and back again, through all of time.

"Rose resented me at first, treated me like some second-rate copy or a reminder of what she lost. Fell into a horrible depression, but no matter how much it hurt I kept trying to show her that my feelings were real, and everything she loved about you was everything she could love in me. Essentially that we were the same man, the only difference being that I'm mostly human. She eventually came round. Only called me John after Doctor didn't seem to fit anymore."

The Doctor stood next to the cot. "Did you ever tell her? Our name?"

John shook his head. "At that point it wasn't mine to give."

Amy burst through the door at that moment, breathless, "Come on you two! Get in there an' do your job! Got babies comin'!"

The Doctor assisted John from the cot and into the other room, sitting him into a chair just as Rory called for Rose to "Push!" Exhausted and covered in sweat, she gathered her strength and let out an ear splitting scream, which was immediately followed by a much smaller voice releasing a much louder wail. Before the Doctor could leave the couple to their private moment, Rory called out, "We've got a girl!" and was handing over a little wriggling towel wrapped bundle to him.

The Doctor tried to pass her to her father, who simply shook his head with a smile and said, "Go on. Find the other one and the three of you can keep company while we wait on her brother."

The Doctor quietly stepped out of the room, following the corridors until he reached the console room, all the while explaining to the tiny babe in his arms that no, he isn't daddy and he'd rather not be called "funny hair guy" either.

Eleven sat in the jump seat enveloped in the monitor screen as they entered and scrambled out of his chair the moment he laid eyes on Ten and his bundle. "Look at her! She's so cute!" he gushed gazing down at the tiny face. "Oi! I do not have a big chin!"

Ten laughed. "Oh, I'm "funny hair guy" but you're the "Chinmeister"! Brilliant! Definitely has Donna's wit!" 

Eleven pouted for a moment then suggested walking back to the infirmary. When they arrived, John was standing in the corridor, holding another little bundle, singing softly to it in Gallifreyan. Eleven cleared his throat; John looked up and nodded a hello while keeping time with the song. Eleven glanced at each of them as he said, "I'll just pop in and check on everyone, back in a mo'"

As Eleven walked through the door, he noticed the TARDIS had already changed the room to look like a regular bedroom, and that Amy was sitting next to Rose, holding her hand and beaming, telling her about Demon's Run. "...so then Rory sonics his way through the door carrying Melody and I knew the second I saw his stupid face he was gonna lose it! I was so happy to see 'im though. He starts tearin' up like this and breathin' heavy," Amy demonstrated, "and he goes 'Oh God I was gonna be cool.'"

Rory interjected with a smile, "I was gonna be cool. Cant help that Melody looked just like her mum and it got me all emotional."

Amy waved him off and continued over Rose's laughter, "Raggedy Man swaggers in all holy roller, in a monk's robes mind you, calling out 'Amelia Pond! Get yer coat!' and I knew he was gonna make 'em run."

"Well, Amy, I am quite full of it!" The Doctor said with a bounce in his step and a snap of his suspenders.

"Ain't that the truth!" Rose giggled.

It was time to let the new family alone for awhile, so Eleven stopped off on a planet called Effejee so he could take Amy and Rory to see the Galactic Circus, which was their destination prior to the sudden arrival of his former companion. Ten decided it would be best to stay behind and try to find a way to get John, Rose and family back to their dimension safely.

He used the TARDIS to scan the infant twins, finding their DNA a flawless mixture of Human and Time Lord. It was decided that because they were born of a human and biological metacrisis, who still had Time Lord DNA, the infants would be able to regenerate, heal, and grow to be exceptionally intelligent and gain some psychic ability, but in all other respects would be human. They would never reach the capacities a full Time Lord could, and probably could regenerate no more than a few times, but Rose and John could easily raise them as relatively normal, albeit "gifted" human children. It was a relief.

Ten sat focused completely on returning them to their home world, frustratingly finding no tears or ripples between the two dimensions. It was as if the hole that had been torn when they were brought through was immediately sealed off, so the breach was impossible to find.

"Suspicious", he thought.

Upon Eleven's return from Effejee, he and Ten weighed their options- either they risk destroying both universes or they find the little family a new home, someplace they could live in secret. Maybe Earth at a different point in time? Or New New Earth?


	7. Chapter Seven

"We can't go home? You're serious?"

John nodded, "If there was a way home they'd have found it. The TARDIS can scan every inch of this dimension in a few hours' time. But there are several planets with human populations that could easily become a new home for us. Places where we will never have to live in fear, where we can easily blend in. But going back will never be an option. I doubt we could even call your parents to tell them."

"Actually," Eleven interjected, "I can do that. I did that! But what if we were able to do better than a simple phone call?"

"I know just the supernova!" Ten jumped out of his seat and dashed out of the room.

Eleven called behind, "Shall we try targeting the projection to their home this time?"

"You can do that?" asked John. "I thought there wasn't a way without needing an opening into the dimension."

"I've had a long time to figure it out. But it's going to take all three of us."

John jumped out of his seat in the lounge and handed the little girl they now called "Jacqueline Amelia Smith" to her mother ("Amelia" being added at the baby's insistence on being named after the lady who says "stupid" in such a silly way), and scrambled out the door after Ten. Eleven also stood. "Rory? Give us a hand? Could always use two more."

Rory smiled and placed the sleeping little boy called "James Michael Smith" back into his cot. "Thought you'd never ask!" he said, relieved to get a chance to pal around with the fellas and he followed John out the door.

Eleven winked at Amy and Rose before turning toward the door himself. "Geronimo!"

"Rory! Give that lever there a three-quarter turn to the right then flip the green switch on your left!" shouted John over the louder-than-normal groaning coming from the engine.

Rory turned the lever, flipped the switch and shouted back, "Got it!"

Ten called out to Eleven, who was posted in front of the monitor, "Ready for the Long Wave Radio Transmitter to power on?"

He replied, "Let me recalibrate the Signal Locator." Eleven pressed a few buttons and shouted, "There! Ready to power on!"

John walked around the console to stand in front of a small recording device attached to the TARDIS's monitor. "Jackie? Pete? Can anyone hear me?" He tapped the screen. "I've no visual. Can you up it?"

Ten pointed his screwdriver at a small rectangular box now attached to the console. "Try again! You should have something coming in."

The screen flickered for a few moments and soon Pete and Jackie's lounge came into view. A little boy was seated on the sofa. John smiled into the recorder. "Tony! Hello Tony! Go get Mummy please?"

Little Tony bolted from the room shouting, "Mummy! John-john on telly! Mummy!"

Clearly, Jackie could be heard in the kitchen telling Tony that there was no way John could be on the telly and its probably just someone who looks like him, but when she came in to see for herself and John waved, she ran from the room screaming, "Pete! You will never believe this John is on that spaceship and he's on the blasted telly scarin' the daylights outta me!"

Ten laughed heartily from his place at the console, "Oh, Jackie Tyler. You never cease to amuse me!"

Muffled voices could be heard and soon Pete and Jackie's faces filled the screen. Jackie's gob was going a mile a minute, "Is that alien there with you? He better be taking good care of my Rose or there'll be penance to pay! I want my grand babies safe, you hear me John? Don't think for a second I won't-"

John interrupted, "Jackie? You need to listen to me. Before you get to see Rose I need to tell you a few things and in her state I don't want her to stress. First, yes, The Doctor is here with me..." He turned and waved them over with a mischievous grin he made sure Jackie couldn't see.

Both Doctors stood where Pete and Jackie could see them. "I see the Doctor but who is that other bloke?"

Eleven grinned, "I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor Who?" Jackie asked. Stifled snickering erupted from John and Rory.

"Just The Doctor I'll thank you!" Eleven bowed and snapped his suspenders.

Pete shook his head. He couldn't believe it. "There are two of you?"

John came back on the screen, "Technically there are three of us but the point is that yes, we are on the TARDIS. Rose is safe. And you'll see her and the twins in a moment. That's the good news."

Pete and Jackie looked at each other knowingly. Pete turned back to the screen, "What happened, John?"

"We were pulled through the Void into this dimension by Slitheen traders. They were after the twins. They didn't really seem smart enough to find us in that dimension let alone bring us here without leaving a trace or destroying both dimensions. We haven't been able to figure out who the real brains behind this is, but we are working on it. It's also been determined that since we have no idea of what technology brought us here, we can't get home. In the meantime, the Doctors, Rory and I will look for a suitable planet to make home."

Jackie's burst into sobs, burying her face in Pete's shoulder.

"Now Jackie, don't fret. I'll find a way for you and Rose to stay in touch. And if I figure out who brought us here, I may be able to recover the device they used and reverse it."

Amy and Rose could be heard calling each of their names in succession, getting closer and closer. They entered the console room, each carrying a twin. "Ah, here they are! Rose, come say hello to your mum and dad!"

Rose walked over to John and looked into the screen in disbelief, "Oh my God, Mum! I missed you so much!"

Jackie's eyes welled again, "Hello dear! Oh, who is that?"

Rose held up the little boy so her mum could get a good look. "This is James Michael Smith. Named him for Mickey, mum!"

"Oh, he's such a darling!" Jackie gushed, wiping tears from her eyes.

Rose handed James to his father and took the little girl from Amy's arms, holding her up. "This is Jacqueline Amelia Smith." Rose proudly announced.

"Rose, you gave her my name!" Fresh tears fell down Jackie's face. Then she grew quite serious and said, "Who's Amelia?"

"That'd be me," Amy popped her head in and waved, "Current travelling companion of the Doctor's, m'self and my husband. The Doctor with the bow tie not the Doctor with the sticky uppy hair."

Ten took over the screen and said, "Jackie Tyler now I'm sorry but we have to go. I give you my word that we will figure out a way for you and Rose to communicate if we can't get everyone home, alright?"

"All right Doctor. Just take care of them, please."

"I promise."


	8. Chapter Eight

**Author's note:**

**I am giving a chapter here for Rose and Ten to finally say all those things they needed to say the last time they'd met, back on Earth. It's very feelsy. **

* * *

Rose awoke to gentle knocking on the door, so she rose from her bed and opened it as quietly as she could so as not to wake the sleeping babes and her husband within. Her Doctor stood there, an easy smile upon his lips. His eyes still had a way of penetrating her heart, she thought.

"Fancy a stroll?" he whispered. His eyes dropped at his trainers, nervously smoothing the side of his hair with his fingers.

Rose lifted his face with her fingertips, meeting his smile with one of her own. "Of course," she replied, "I've wanted to chat alone with you since I got here."

The Doctor held out his arm and Rose took it gladly, closing the door behind her. He led her through numerous passages and down into what seemed to be a very old, neglected part of the TARDIS, refusing to not only allow her to discuss her thoughts until they reached their destination but also withholding its location with a simple, "It's a surprise."

A tattered brown door at the end of a long empty corridor stood in front of them, and upon reaching it, they stopped. The Doctor closed his eyes, and took a deep breath before opening it and let Rose enter first. Musty and dark, the room, Rose could tell, was old. So old, in fact, the TARDIS walls looked ancient and organic, the furnishings were of an unrecognizable era and source, and although there was no dust, the air had heaviness to it. As the Doctor entered, the room brightened to a warm glow, despite no discernable light sources in the room. Rose's eyes gazed around at the three-dimensional paintings, the standard Earth two-dimensional photographs hanging in frames, and the various random items scattered about on every table and shelf. She stepped to her immediate right, fingering the frame of one of the aforementioned paintings, studying it. The Doctor closed the door behind them and followed her lead.

"What is this? Looks like a painting but it's like watching a paused 3D movie." Rose said, pointing to the tiny people all gathered around celebrating.

The Doctor nodded toward it, "It's Time Lord art, a moment in time frozen into a painting. When I was young, I wanted to fulfill my destiny. So when it came time to be taken to the Academy, I studied as much as I could. I tried to learn anything they would allow. When I came into adulthood and I had finished my studies, I was reunited with my mother. You see, I was different than other children. Most were born of a loom. My mother's pregnancy with me was not the norm, since typically marriages were arranged for the intellectual benefits and children were expected to favor logic over emotion, very Vulcan mentality. It was exceptionally unusual since it was thought our entire race sterile and unable to procreate. My father secreted her away until I came, and he paid a man at the looms for the proper paperwork. So reuniting with my family after a hundred years at the Academy, well, let's say it was a joyous day for all."

"So this room is where you keep your memories?" asked Rose.

"Yes," replied the Doctor, "in all my years of life I find some memories are too precious to hope that this thick brain of mine will hang on. So I keep mementos."

They continued down the wall, all the while the Doctor explaining the content in each image. He showed her one of his children and grandchildren on Gallifrey before he stole the TARDIS. He opened his granddaughter Susan's journal and handed it to Rose so she could look at the drawings and scribbling on each page. He pointed to a photograph tucked inside the book, "She was quite the adventurer. Met a man in the 22nd Century and fell in love with him, so I left her behind. I've seen her a few times after but since the Time War I just haven't checked."

Rose flipped the photo over in the cover of the journal, noticed swirly, circular writing and pointed to it, "This is pretty, what's it mean?"

The Doctor glanced down, and smiled. "It's her name," he said, "It means 'rose.'"

Rose smiled down at the photograph, "She's lovely." She set down the book and walked along the wall until she noticed a very large photograph of herself, Jackie, Mickey and the Doctor the first Christmas they had spent with this Doctor's face, the day the Sycorax tried to invade Earth. They were all gathered together, Rose holding the camera out front of them, her face and the Doctor's touching cheek to cheek. Her fingers trailed the edges of the cherrywood frame, her mind lost in the memory.

"Oh, you've found it haven't you?" the Doctor said quietly, and he sat behind her in an old armchair that looked like something from 17th century France, decadent and obviously not comfortable. "This is where I keep memories of you."

Sketches of her smiling face framed as a collage filled one corner of the wall, a photograph of Rose and Jack laughing at each other, quite drunk, in a bar, another featuring his 9th incarnation with his arms wrapped around Rose standing on the overlook of the largest canyon in the universe (the two of them smiling like giddy school children). Rose laughed at that one. "This was when Jack insisted we go see the Grand Canyon, but he meant the one in America and you ended up taking us to the one on Frackus 3! Oh, where we met the couple from Draval? They had blue skin and purple eyes and jet black hair- Jack called them 'Sexy Smurfs!'"

The Doctor stood and stepped up behind her with his hands behind his back, eying the photo. "Yep! That's the one!" He laughed, shaking his head, "Never got the hint not to flirt with them, even when the dominant male bared the spines along his arm as a show of masculinity, the subservient one didn't know what to do about two dominant males trying to fight over him!"

Rose, turning to look at the Doctor, asked, "What ever happened to him, after I left…?"

"Ah, well, he ran Torchwood for awhile longer, but ultimately he had other places to be. Do you remember the Face of Boe?"

Rose nodded. The Doctor tipped his head toward the photo. Rose gasped, "No!"

"Yeah! He's gonna live a very long time."

The two stood there, laughing and reminiscing for a few more minutes, but ultimately a silence grew between them and the both knew that the purpose of being here, alone, would have to be revealed. They both turned to face each other, and started to speak over one another, stopped, and smiled into each other's eyes. The Doctor decided to go first.

He placed his hands on Rose's shoulders, and took a deep breath, desperately trying to maintain composure. "Rose, I wanted to tell you this but I never knew how, until it was too late. I know telling you now isn't going to change things but I have to say it out loud or I'll explode. I've loved you since Platform One. I know it doesn't matter now, and that's okay because I'm the one that made it all go wrong. But I wanted to tell you so many times and thought that maybe you knew so I would never have to actually say it. But when you were standing on that beach, and you told me you loved me, I wanted to just spit it out, right then. I wanted to hold you in my arms again, and hear your laugh and your sass, because I've loved every tiny thing about you for so long."

Rose sat in the previously mentioned uncomfortable antique chair, leaning forward with her face in her hands. Her breaths came shallow and tight, and her body shook. The Doctor dove down onto one knee and rested a hand upon hers.

"Rose, that's why I left you there, with my other half."

Her face slowly drifted up, eyes red and rimmed in tears, mouth agape. An incredulous stare crossed her face and drove him to his feet. "You left me behind because you loved me? There was no reason I had to go back," she growled, her voice gaining volume with every word, "I could have stayed in THIS universe! I get why you left your metacrisis self with me, and don't doubt for one second that I love him, because I do, more than anything. What I could never understand was WHY did you have to leave me there? You could have dropped us on any planet in the universe, and at least have come to see me once in awhile!" Tears flowed freely now, and her face softened, her whole body slumped into the chair, shaking with her sobs. In a broken voice, she cried, " I needed you! There were so many times I wished I could just call you up and tell you all about everything but you just abandoned us! Despite everything else, you're still my best friend!"

The Doctor pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly. He leaned back against the wall, and he lifted her face. Tears streamed down his face. "You're still mine too," he whispered. "You'll always mean the world to me. I'm so happy that you've gotten the kind of life I could never give you, and those lovely babies, I just couldn't have given you that."

"I know," Rose mumbled into the lapels of his jacket. "Will you promise to be there though? Now that we're stuck here, will you come visit and help us?"

The Doctor kissed her forehead. "I promise."

Rose hugged the Doctor around the neck, and let go only when she realized she hadn't given the Doctor her news. "Oh, I wanted to tell you, when we found out that we were with child, we wanted to name you as godfather, but for obvious reasons, planned to do it in your absence. Since you're actually here, and I can ask you, would you?" She gave him the Rose Tyler Puppy Eyes look and he knew he couldn't say no.

"Are you kidding me? Yeah!" The Doctor beamed.

Rose laughed at his childlike excitement. Suddenly her stomach growled, and she nodded toward the door, "Chips? I'm starvin'!"

The Doctor held out his arm and with a huge grin, she took it and they started back through the corridors to the TARDIS galley, singing "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" the entire way.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Author's Note:**

**Apparently I was on a roll because this chapter just came to me, and I stayed up all night to write it for you! I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

God, how Rose missed shopping in alien markets on a gorgeous day! This one in particular was simply divine, with the brightly colored fabrics blowing in the warm, dry breeze, this sky a bright lilac shade of purple and grey sand underneath Rose's sandal-clad feet. She turned to Amy, so happy to see she was enjoying the beautiful scenery too, the little bundles each of them carried in papooses attached to their chests fast asleep. Amy took Rose's hand and pulled her over to a booth selling silk clothing, and held up a little infant-sized robe in TARDIS blue. Rose held out a little red one and Amy nodded. They quickly headed back to the boys to show off their purchases.

They had left the two Doctors, Rory, and John to deal with the more technical aspects of home acquisition in favour of selecting furnishings for Rose and John's new home, a blue stucco two-story on the corner of the marketplace, with a tea shop across the unpaved street and a restaurant with (near-perfect in Rose's mind) chips that were advertised as "best in the galaxy" just around the corner. Really, it was just an excuse for Rose to make friends with Amy, who had been a confidant to her in the private conversations they'd had while Rose was in labour, and a soothing influence. As they approached, Eleven waved. "Oi! Girls come see this! It's a special type of home security system. You touch the door," John demonstrated, resting his hand on the door. It turned green and there was an obvious latching sound, "and it unlocks the door for you! Takes a detailed image of not only your hand itself but the electro-magnetic energy radiating from it! Isn't that cool?"

Amy and Rose rolled their eyes at each other. Boys and their toys! "Yes, Raggedy Man, it's a lovely door. Can we please go in now? I'm starvin' and it's hot!"

John pushed the door open the rest of the way and the girls led the group inside. It looked as though the movers had delivered everything, and the boys had tried to make it look homey. John took the twins to put down for a rest while the adults had a meal together and, ultimately, said their goodbyes. But as Rose was placing hot food upon the table and everyone was gathering around for the most glorious smelling pots and pans of who-knows-what, one of the babies started screeching, immediately followed by the screams of the other. Rose excused herself and went into the nursery, but the cries were no longer coming from this room. It sounded as though it was coming from just outside the window, which was open, the breeze causing the sheer blue curtains to billow into the room. Rose didn't think she'd left the window open. She ran to it and leaned outside, scanning the streets around, but saw nothing. Then Rose heard it, the scraping of feet against the stucco. She glanced to her left just in time to see a robed figure leap down from the ledge carrying her twins. She screamed, and everyone came running. The Doctors got to the window just in time to see the robed figure turn to look in response to Rose's screams. They knew that bug-eyed mask anywhere. And the Sycorax who ordered this kidnapping would pay dearly.

Making a mad dash out of the room, the Doctors quickly explained their findings to John, who was holding Rose in his arms, and the three of them decided it would be better to try to catch the thief before he left the planet. The Doctors insisted Rory and John stay behind, but the two humans looked at each other, then back at Ten and Eleven. "You can't deny my right to avenge them," shouted John, "Or Rory the Roman's right to give em one hell of a fight!"

Rose pulled John to her and begged, "You come back to me, you hear? Let the Doctors fight this; just bring Jacks and Jamie back to me. I can't live without you!"

He kissed her, pouring all of his love, his passion, and his fear into it. "I love you," he whispered before he ran out the door after Rory and the Doctors. He caught up with them a short distance from the house, where Eleven was examining his sonic.

"Got em! They haven't left the planet yet, and their ship is cloaked a few blocks from here. Geronimo, boys!" and Eleven took off at a mad dash down the street to their immediate left, with Ten right on his heels.

Following the trail picked up by Eleven's sonic; they ended up in a grassy field where the ship was, obviously, cloaked. The weight created a circle of smashed grass. Ten walked right up to the invisible hull and hit it three times with his fist, before calling out, "You have something that belongs—"

"To me!" John interjected. "And I challenge you—for the lives of my children! Open up, unless you're yellow!"

All four men found themselves suddenly inside the ship in a giant arena. A Sycorax stood between them and the babies, who were lying inside a little wooden makeshift cradle. "How dare you challenge me, you puny human. You're so tiny! Don't attempt to deceive me, these are children of Gallifrey, and you're definitely not!"

"They are MINE, and I will defeat you! It wouldn't be the first time. Ever hear back from the Sycorax ship that tried to invade Earth? Probably not, since I sent their leader flying over the edge of his own ship and the humans that live there disintegrated it." John pulled a sword from a rack next to him and held his arms above him, the sword in one hand and his other balled into a fist. "I am the Doctor," he shouted, "and you will NOT deny my challenge!"

The Sycorax lunged at him, and John sidestepped the blade. His own sword made contact with an earsplitting clang. John gritted his teeth, and swiped at his enemy's abdomen, the Sycorax barely dodging out of the way. They were locked sword to sword again, and John shoved the Sycorax backward, it losing the sword it had held, and using the leverage to aim his sword for a quick beheading, John stopped mere centimeters from the Sycorax's neck. "I've defeated you, have I not?"

The Sycorax mumbled, "Yes."

"LOUDER!" John roared.

"Yes!" it shouted.

John looked back toward the two Doctors and Rory. "Will you get them, please?" he asked, his sword still pointed at the neck of the villain. Eleven and Rory stepped forward, each taking a babe in their arms. Ten walked over to John and placed a hand upon his shoulder. John smiled at him, but his eyes got wide, and he grunted. Blood filled his mouth, and he reached up and touched his lips, not believing this was actually happening. Ten's face cringed in horror. John dropped his sword and collapsed, Ten desperately trying to break his fall by at least keeping him sort of upright. "No! No no no no!" Ten cried out. He pulled the sonic out of his pocket and tried to scan his duplicate's injury. He turned back to Rory and Eleven, and recognized the look on Eleven's face. There was nothing they could do, if they removed the sword, he'd bleed out in seconds, before the sonic could heal at least part of the wound. It was going to be a slow death.

"Take care of her," John choked, "please."

"I promise."

Suddenly a wheezing, groaning sound erupted from the silence, and the TARDIS materialized. Rose burst through the doors. Eleven walked up to her, trying to block her view. "Rose," he said, "It's not good."

Her breath caught in her throat, as she saw Ten holding the crumpled body of his duplicate. She pushed past Eleven, who handed the little boy to Amy, who had followed Rose out of the TARDIS. Rose fell to her knees, sobs racking her body violently. "Baby, please don't leave me! You can't do this!" She turned to Ten, "Can't you help him?"

Ten shook his head.

"Rosie," John whispered, his breathing laboured and gurgling. "I love you… my…flower."

"I love you," she bawled into his shirt. All Ten could think to do in that moment was place his hand upon her back and run it up and down softly along her spine, hoping the contact would be a comfort. Apparently Rose had other things in mind.

She took a deep breath, and stood, eyes glowing gold and piercing with anger. She moved toward the Sycorax who had run her lovely husband through, picking up John's sword as she swept across the floor in an almost inhuman quickness. She pointed it directly into his face. "Did you do this?" a menacing, growl asked through Rose's clenched teeth. This may have been Rose, but it was quite obvious, the Bad Wolf had never really left her, just remained dormant until this moment, when Rose was so broken that she couldn't protect herself. The Bad Wolf was her defense mechanism.

The Sycorax didn't answer fast enough so the Bad Wolf screamed, "DID YOU KILL HIM?" right into its scarred, ugly face. It shook violently in fear of this thing it had never seen before. Murmurs blanketed the crowd, and the Bad Wolf addressed them, "You see something and you take it? The big bad Sycorax?" She laughed and pointed her fingers at the one trembling beneath her in fear. "This is what happens when you mess with the big Bad Wolf." The Sycorax at her feet disintegrated into dust. Rose looked up at the crowd. "You will leave this planet. You will never return. I will bring you all to dust if you try!"

Ten stood behind her in shock. Is this what it looked like to his companions when he stood up to an army? He tried to pull her away. She turned to him glaring, and knelt down over John's body. "I can bring life," she whispered.

"Rose?" Ten turned her face to his. "You'd make him immortal, and he wouldn't want that. He made his peace before we went onto the ship. He knew he wasn't—." Ten paused, trying to think of the right way to say it. "John came here to give his life protecting you and his children. We need to do him the honour of respecting that."

Eleven walked over to them and helped Ten carry John's body into the TARDIS, and they placed him in the infirmary. They glanced at each other knowingly. Eleven turned to leave Ten alone in the room with Rose, putting an arm over the shoulder of each of his companions, guiding them to the TARDIS console room.

Ten took Rose's hands gently in his. The glowing had faded long ago, and now she was just Rose, numb to the core, her heart crumbling into millions of shards of glass, cutting her chest deeply as they fell away. He knew the feeling.

Without looking at him, Rose squeezed his hand. Her eyes wouldn't leave the face of her lost husband, her hero. A few tears fell from her eyes, but she didn't notice. "Why do these things happen?" she whispered.

Ten shook his head. "I don't know."

"How am I supposed to live without him?" The tears began to flow more steadily.

The Doctor pulled her into his arms. "I know I'm nothing by comparison, but I promised. I promised him I would take care of you." Her body relaxed as she melted into his embrace, trembling with pangs of grief that enveloped her, her loud sobs filling the air around them.

The next morning, as the sun rose over the aquatic horizon, they set John Smith to sea, his body aflame. And as the vessel that bore him away drifted out of view, Ten and Eleven looked to each other. Eleven pointed with his eyes to the blonde woman in Ten's arms, mouthing the words, "Forever."


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm sorry this chapter has taken so long to write. I had the hardest time figuring out how to end the story. I wanted it to be something different from how I had originally planned the ending. **

**In any case, here is the final chapter. Please review :)**

* * *

The partially drawn curtains billowed in with the cool breeze. A man lay on a sheet of white, covered to the waist by the brightly colored blankets. He had gained a bit of weight, and his face had changed just a little, but his hair had started to thin and his eyes wrinkled from years of happiness and laughter, even though right now, at this moment, he was far from a happy man.

He held himself up with his elbow, his head resting upon his fist. His other hand still hadn't left her face, even though her skin had lost a little of its warmth and color and she was no longer struggling to breathe. In her last moments they were smiling, sharing the deep love held for one another for the last time. He promised to protect them as best he could, and the generations that came after, until the end of his days. This wasn't some illness, simply old age that finally separated them.

The Doctor wanted to stay here as long as possible before calling Amy and her brother to let them know that their mother died. He didn't want to believe that the one woman who could get him to stay in one place, nearly 50 years, finally passed from the mortal realm. It was so numb inside his heart, and his eyes were now dry but chapped and red from saying goodbye to her. Why couldn't he keep her? What's the point of living a very long life if you only have a little while with the people you truly love? What's the purpose of having a big brain and all the knowledge in the universe if he can't stop the one person in all of existence from growing old? He struggled to make himself remember every second in her presence, every moment of their lives together.

* * *

The Doctor lifted the pink veil over her eyes, painted in such a way that they popped and that's all he could see. They glimmered around the edges from the candlelight and her tears. As he leaned in to kiss her, Mickey, who was essentially an eight-year-old boy aside from that he and his sister age at ¼ of the rate of a human, and he screamed "EW!" from his place next to The Doctor and dropped the pillow he was holding to the floor to cover his eyes. Amy elbowed him. "Shut it you idiot!"

The Doctor and Rose laughed. He was mesmerized by the sparkle in her eyes, finding himself lost for a few seconds. The officiate, a Thorian priest in his long sky blue robes and head dress made of multicolored rainbow feathers and ribbon, cleared his throat before whispering, "So…. The kiss?"

"Right!" The Doctor's eyes met hers again and this time, he leaned in slowly, letting his lips graze hers for only a second, while he whispered "I love you, with all my hearts." He deepened the kiss, entering her mind and forming the psychic bond that would unite them every day until her last day as his wife.

* * *

The night sky lit up with a million stars, and The Doctor and Rose lay in a meadow on their backs, a twin on each side of them. The Doctor explained the nature of the universe, telling the teenage-shaped twins about he and Rose's many adventures on the TARDIS.

"We found an outpost, a research facility, which happened to be built on the site of a planet that was stuck in a gravitational field orbiting a black hole. As it turns out it was a prison for the most evil, oldest creature in the universe." The Doctor sighed. "It was the actual location of hell. I thought I lost your mum, thankfully she saved herself and what was left of the crew."

"Wait, you're telling me you met the Devil?" Amy asked, disbelieving.

The Doctor stared off into the stars. "Yup."

"Show us," Mickey challenged. "Prove that you can really travel the universe and visit other places."

The Doctor grinned from ear to ear, glancing over to Rose. She nodded her approval.

"Alright, but you get one trip. When you're older we'll talk about more adventures." The Doctor lifted himself off the grass, and reached to help Rose, who was in her sixties, from the ground. He led them into a nearby wood, carrying the aged Rose like a bride over the threshold, through the dark forest. They entered a cave and the Doctor pulled a torch from the pocket of his robes and turned it on. He handed it to Mickey and led them through until they emerged next to a waterfall in a tiny valley. The TARDIS snuggly nestled in a grove of trees, hummed at their presence. The doors opened. The Doctor stepped through the doors and placed Rose in the jumpseat.

"Hello old girl," he gently spoke to the console, an air of nostalgia in his voice. Rose's eyes were closed, when The Doctor looked back at her, and he knew from the smile on her face Rose and the TARDIS were speaking telepathically. The twins slowly entered the time machine, amazed by what they saw. "I remember this!" Amy exclaimed, "Dad used to show us this before we were born! This is what he called our 'heritage'. It's exactly the same." She paused, deep sadness creeping across her face.

She turned to the Doctor, and asked, tears in her eyes, "Doctor, Mickey and I want to know, can we call you 'Dad'"?

* * *

The Doctor brushed the tears from his cheeks as he sat staring at the phone in his hand. Amy, who had grown into a spitting image of her mother but with medium length brown hair and her father's eyes would be there in moments, and Mickey, who was almost a spitting image of the Doctor, but much shorter and a rounder face who's hair was long and wavy as the men usually kept their hair on this planet, would be arriving as soon as his last class was finished. He walked back into the bedroom and changed the sheets and blankets, and took Rose's body into the bath to wash it, before re-dressing her and placing her back in their bed. Amy and Mickey arrived at the same time, finding the Doctor sitting on the floor against the wall opposite the bed, his forehead on his knees. He'd grown a beard, Amy noticed, since she'd come to visit last. The TARDIS thankfully got her home often enough that she noticed these things, like that he hadn't eaten or slept in ages. Since Mickey only lived on the other side of the market, and taught an astrophysics course at the university, he was home more often, but still, a twenty-five year old had places to go and things to do.

Amy knelt in front of the man she'd thought of as her father for years now, placed her arms around his shoulders and held him. The Doctor's shoulders shuddered with silent sobs. This man who had faced armies, given up the one person in the universe he would love more than anyone, stayed to raise the children that weren't his for the man that had his face, who lived in one place with her and loved her and watched her grow old and die, who never complained, or bickered with her or pushed her into loving him again or forgiving him before she was ready had broken. All of those walls he'd build up inside to protect himself crumbled and it left him clinging onto his daughter, sobbing into her arms.

Mickey sat upon the bed and held his mother's hand. His head down, he whispered, "Dad, can we bury her? Can we put her nearby so she will always be with us?"

This planet didn't have graveyards, as the tradition of a burial at sea was more commonplace. The Doctor nodded his head and smiled up at Mickey, "Yeah, we can do that son. Let's put her in her garden, so she can stay with us." He stood, and sat opposite Mickey on the bed. Amy stood behind with her hands on his shoulders. The Doctor placed his hand on Rose's, and a glow spread from her hand, up her arm, and throughout the rest of her body. Suddenly, she looked nineteen again.

"This is your mum, when I first met her. So beautiful, and kind, and funny." The Doctor chuckled. "Oh, she'd get me with some good ones." The time they parked the TARDIS between two garbage bins and Rose wouldn't let it go for weeks about his poor driving skills flashed in his mind.

* * *

That night they buried Rose, in a grave among her rose bushes and lilies, and after Amy and Mickey had gone, The Doctor remained seated on the ground next to the freshly buried casket. His despair enveloped him like massive black wings made of ice. His hearts shattered, his mind lost in a maze of memories and emotions, and his body was frozen in place among the beautiful flowers in the dark of night. Her gravestone read simply "forever", written in Gallifreyan, and a carving of a single rose decorated it.

"I hope I gave you as good a life as he could have. I hope…" The Doctor paused, fighting the overwhelming grief in his hearts, "I hope that one day I might see you again, even for a moment. You're so precious to me, and," he choked back the lump growing in his throat," I just can't believe you're gone!" His voice broke. "I wish I could have saved you…"

He stood after what felt like forever, his face now hardened. He strode over to the TARDIS, which was now sitting under a small group of trees in the yard. He touched the door, and it hummed, the doors opening. The Doctor entered, looking back to the grave again. The doors closed, his head dropped, and suddenly the engines whined and murmured. The TARDIS disappeared into the night with a groan as its final farewell.


End file.
